The U.S. Department of Justice announced charges on Friday against 13 Russians and three Russian entities for allegedly carrying out an elaborate plot to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said she has “no reason not to believe the women” who accused staff secretary Rob Porter of domestic violence ― but then defended President Donald Trump, who has suggested that the allegations might not be true.

The US-led coalition killed more than 100 Assad regime fighters in eastern Syria on Wednesday, officials said, in the largest deliberate strike carried out by Western forces against pro-Syrian government troops. The coalition said it struck regime fighters with airstrikes and artillery after they launched an "unprovoked attack" against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Western-backed rebels fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in Syria. "We estimate more than 100 Syrian pro-regime forces were killed while engaging SDF and coalition forces," a US military official said. The strikes took place in the Euphrates River valley in the province of Deir Ezzor, where Isil still holds scraps of territory but is under intense pressure from both Syrian regime forces and the SDF. The US has struck pro-regime forces in eastern Syria several times but Wednesday's attack caused more casualties than any previous deliberate strike. Syrian army fighters are operating against Isil in Deir Ezzor as are the Syrian Democratic Forces Credit: LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images Around 100 Syrian army troops were killed in an accidental strike in Deir Ezzor in September 2016 when US forces mistook them for Isil fighters. The US and the Assad regime have for the most part maintained an uneasy truce in Syria, exchanging hostile words but rarely shooting at each other Wednesday's strike against pro-regime forces illustrates the complex new reality in Syria, where the shared enemy of Isil has largely been defeated and tensions are growing between competing military forces in the country. The US said that around 500 pro-regime troops, backed by tanks and artillery, had launched what appeared to be coordinated attack on an SDF headquarters. “The coalition conducted strikes against attacking forces to repel the act of aggression,” a coalition spokesman said. US jets have uneasily shared Syrian airspace with Russian and regime aircraft Credit: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon The US did not specifically say if the fighters were from the Syrian army or an allied militia or a foreign fighters group like the Lebanese militants Hizbollah. The Syrian regime said the fighters were from a local militia fighting against Isil and accused the US of "a war crime and a crime against humanity". Damascus regularly protests against the US-led intervention in Syria, calling it a violation of Syria's sovereignty, but has been largely powerless to stop it. The US maintains a "deconfliction channel" with Russia, which is allied with the Syrian regime, and the two militaries use the channel to coordinate their movements to avoid to any accidental conflicts. The US said it had been in contact with the Russians throughout the attack on Wednesday and had been reassured that Russian aircraft would not launch strikes against the coalition in support of Syrian regime troops. Further strikes on regime positions are being considered within the US government, a Syrian opposition diplomatic source told the Telegraph, particularly within the National Security Council led by General HR McMaster, and supported by Nikki Haley, the ambassador to the UN. But there is significant divergence within the administration, according to the source, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging more caution. The French government is said to support such moves, having been frustrated by what it saw as flip-flopping within the Trump administration over their willingness to stand up to Russia in Syria.

The White House was not fully aware of the extent of the domestic abuse allegations against former White House aide Rob Porter until photographs of an ex-wife with a black eye emerged on Wednesday, a White House spokesman said on Thursday. The White House, which had backed Porter until the photo was published amid allegations of domestic abuse, said Porter’s last day as White House staff secretary was on Wednesday, when he resigned.

An autistic British man accused of hacking into U.S. government agencies won his appeal against extradition to the United States on Monday but was told he should be prosecuted in Britain instead. Lauri Love, who has Asperger’s syndrome, is accused of involvement in a series of hacks in 2012 and 2013 into computers at agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. army, the Missile Defense Agency and the Federal Reserve. Charged with multiple offences in three U.S. indictments, he had been facing a life prison sentence in the United States if found guilty, a fate which he has said could lead him to taking his own life.